Editing Scat singing (section)

== History ==
=== Origins ===
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Jolsonscat.ogg|title="That Haunting Melody" (1911) excerpt|description=[[Al Jolson]]'s scatting during his 1911 recording of "That Haunting Melody" has been cited as one of the earliest examples of scat singing|pos=right|format=[[Ogg]]}}

Improvisational singing of nonsense syllables occurs in many cultures, such as [[Lilting|diddling or lilting]] in Ireland, German [[yodeling]], Sámi [[joik]], and [[speaking in tongues]] in various religious traditions. 

Although [[Louis Armstrong]]'s 1926 recording of "[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]" is often cited as the first modern song to employ scatting,<ref name="Crowther Pinfold 1997"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=618}}</ref> there are many earlier examples.<ref name="Edwards 2002 618-619"/> One early master of ragtime scat singing was [[Gene Greene]] who recorded scat choruses in his song "King of the Bungaloos" and several others between 1911 and 1917.<ref name="Edwards 2002 619">{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=619}}</ref> Entertainer [[Al Jolson]] scatted through a few bars in the middle of his 1911 recording of "That Haunting Melody."<ref name="Gioia">{{Harvnb|Gioia|2011|p=59}}</ref> Gene Greene's 1917 "From Here to Shanghai," which featured faux-Chinese scatting,<ref name="Edwards 2002 619"/> and [[Gene Rodemich]]'s 1924 "Scissor Grinder Joe" and "Some of These Days" also pre-date Armstrong.<ref>{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=619}}</ref> [[Cliff Edwards|Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards]] scatted an interlude on his 1923 "Old Fashioned Love" in lieu of using an instrumental soloist.<ref>{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=620}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Friedwald|1990|p=16}}</ref> One of the early female singers to use scat was [[Aileen Stanley]], who included it at the end of a duet with [[Billy Murray (singer)|Billy Murray]] in their hit 1924 recording of "[[It Had To Be You (song)|It Had To Be You]]" (Victor 19373).

Jazz pianist [[Jelly Roll Morton]] credited Joe Sims of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], as the creator of scat around the turn of the 20th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nicholson|1993|p=89}}</ref> In a conversation between [[Alan Lomax]] and Jelly Roll Morton, Morton recounted the history of scat:<ref name="Hill 2014">{{Harvnb|Hill|2014}}</ref>
<blockquote>
'''Lomax''': "Well, what about some more scat songs, that you used to sing way back then?"
<br />
'''Morton''': "Oh, I'll sing you some scat songs. That was way before Louis Armstrong's time. By the way, scat is something that a lot of people don't understand, and they begin to believe that the first scat numbers was ever done, was done by one of my hometown boys, Louis Armstrong. But I must take the credit away, since I know better. The first man that ever did a scat number in history of this country was a man from Vicksburg, Mississippi, by the name of Joe Sims, an old comedian. And from that, [[Tony Jackson (jazz musician)|Tony Jackson]] and myself, and several more grabbed it in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]]. And found it was pretty good for an introduction of a song."
<br />
'''Lomax''': "What does scat mean?"
<br />
'''Morton''': "Scat doesn't mean anything but just something to give a song a flavor."<ref name="Hill 2014"/>
</blockquote>

Morton also once boasted, "Tony Jackson and myself were using scat for novelty back in 1906 and 1907 when Louis Armstrong was still in the orphan's home."<ref>{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=620}}</ref> [[Don Redman]] and [[Fletcher Henderson]] also featured scat vocals in their 1925 recording of "My Papa Doesn't Two-Time No Time" five months prior to Armstrong's 1926 recording of "Heebie Jeebies."<ref>{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|p=619}}</ref>

=== Heebie Jeebies ===
{{further|Heebie Jeebies (composition)}}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Armstrongscat.ogg|title="Heebie Jeebies" (1926) excerpt|description=[[Louis Armstrong]]'s 1926 recording of "[[Heebie Jeebies (composition)|Heebie Jeebies]]" was the most influential early example of scat singing.|pos=right|format=[[Ogg]]}}
It was Armstrong's February 1926 performance of "Heebie Jeebies," however, that is considered the turning point for the medium.<ref name="Crowther Pinfold 1997">{{Harvnb|Crowther|Pinfold|1997|p=32}}</ref>  From the 1926 recording of "Heebie Jeebies" arose the techniques that would form the foundation of modern scat.<ref name="Crowther Pinfold 1997"/> In a possibly [[apocryphal]] story,<ref>{{Harvnb|Giddins|2000|p=161}}</ref> Armstrong claimed that, when he was recording "Heebie Jeebies" with his band [[Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five|The Hot Five]], his sheet music fell off the stand and onto the ground.<ref name="Edwards 2002 618-619"/> Not knowing the lyrics to the song, he invented a gibberish melody to fill time, expecting the cut to be thrown out in the end, but that take of the song was the one released:<ref name="Edwards 2002 618-619"/> 

{{Quote|"I dropped the paper with the lyrics—right in the middle of the tune. . . And I did not want to stop and spoil the record which was moving along so wonderfully . . . So when I dropped the paper, I immediately turned back into the horn and started to scatting . . . Just as nothing had happened . . . When I finished the record I just knew the recording people would throw it out . . . And to my surprise they all came running out of the controlling booth and said—'Leave That In.'"<ref name="Edwards 2002 618-619">{{Harvnb|Edwards|2002|pp=618–619}}</ref>}}

Armstrong's "Heebie Jeebies" became a national bestseller and, consequently, the practice of scatting "became closely associated with Armstrong."<ref name="Gioia"/> The song would serve as a model for [[Cab Calloway]], whose 1930s scat solos inspired [[George Gershwin]]'s use of the medium in his 1935 [[opera]] ''[[Porgy and Bess]]''.<ref name="grove"/>

=== Widespread adoption ===
{{Listen|type=music|filename=The_Rhythm_Boys_scat.ogg|title="Mississippi Mud" (1927) excerpt|description=[[The Rhythm Boys]] scat on their 1927 recording of "[[Mississippi Mud]] / I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain." [[Harry Barris]] mimics the sound of a [[cymbal]].|pos=right|format=[[Ogg]]}}{{listen | type = music | pos = right | filename = Duke Ellington Baby Cox The Mooche 1928 Sample.ogg | title = "The Mooche" (1928) excerpt | description = Sample of "[[The Mooche]]" with scat singing by Gertrude "Baby" Cox. | format = [[Ogg]]}}
Following the success of Armstrong's "Heebie Jeebies," a number of popular songs featured scat singing. In June 1927, [[Harry Barris]] and [[Bing Crosby]] of bandleader [[Paul Whiteman]]'s "[[The Rhythm Boys]]" scatted on several songs including "[[Mississippi Mud]]," which Barris had composed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hendricks|2003|p=66}}</ref>

On October 26, 1927, [[Duke Ellington]]'s Orchestra recorded "[[Creole Love Call]]" featuring [[Adelaide Hall]] singing wordlessly.<ref name="Williams 2003">{{Harvnb|Williams|2003|p=113}}</ref> Hall's wordless vocals and "evocative growls" were hailed as serving as "another instrument."<ref>{{Harvnb|Hentoff|2001}}</ref> Although creativity must be shared between Ellington and Hall as he knew the style of performance he wanted, Hall was the one who was able to produce the sound.<ref name="Williams 2003"/> A year later, in October 1928, Ellington repeated the experiment in one of his versions of "[[The Mooche]]," with Getrude "Baby" Cox singing scat after a muted similar trombone solo by [[Tricky Sam Nanton|Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lawrence|2001|p=136}}</ref>
{{listen | type = music | pos = right | filename = The Boswell Sisters - It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 1932 Sample.ogg | title = "It Don't Mean a Thing" (1932) excerpt | description = Sample of "[[It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]]" with scat singing by [[The Boswell Sisters]]. | format = [[Ogg]]}}
During the [[Great Depression]], acts such as [[The Boswell Sisters]] regularly employed scatting on their records, including the high complexity of scatting at the same time, in harmony.<ref name="Wilson 1981">{{Harvnb|Wilson|1981|p=4}}</ref> An example is their version of "[[It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]]."<ref name="Wilson 1981"/> The Boswell Sisters' "inventive use of scat singing was a source for [[Ella Fitzgerald]]."<ref name="Wilson 1981"/> As a young girl, Fitzgerald often practiced imitating Connee Boswell's scatting for hours.{{sfn|Nicholson|1993|pp=10–12}} 

Fitzgerald herself would become a talented scat singer and later claimed to be the "best vocal improviser jazz has ever had," and critics since then have been in almost universal agreement with her.<ref name=f282>{{Harvnb|Friedwald|1990|p=282}}</ref> During this 1930s era, other famous scat singers included [[Scatman Crothers]]<ref name="Scatman Crothers">{{Harvnb|New York Times|1986}}</ref>—who would go on to movie and television fame<ref name="Scatman Crothers"/>—and [[British dance band]] trumpeter and vocalist [[Nat Gonella]]<ref name="Scott 2017"/> whose scat-singing recordings were banned{{efn|name=Gonella|{{Harvnb|Scott|2017|p=302}}: In 1930s "[[Nazi Germany]], the records of British trumpeter and bandleader [[Nat Gonella]] were banned there and scat singing was a criminal offence."<ref name="Scott 2017"/>}} in [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="Scott 2017">{{Harvnb|Scott|2017|p=302}}</ref>

=== Later development ===
Over the years, as jazz music developed and grew in complexity, scat singing did as well. During the [[bop era]] of the 1940s, more highly developed vocal improvisation surged in popularity.<ref name="grove"/> [[Annie Ross]], a bop singer, expressed a common sentiment among vocalists at the time: "The [scat] music was so exciting, everyone wanted to do it."<ref name="cp130"/> And many did: [[Eddie Jefferson]], [[Betty Carter]], [[Anita O'Day]], [[Joe Carroll (singer)|Joe Carroll]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], [[Carmen McRae]], [[Jon Hendricks]], [[Babs Gonzales]], [[Mel Torme]] and [[Dizzy Gillespie]] were all singers in the idiom.<ref name="grove"/> 

Free jazz and the influence of world musicians on the medium pushed jazz singing nearer to avant-garde art music.<ref name="grove"/> In the 1960s [[Ward Swingle]] was the product of an unusually liberal musical education. He took the scat singing idea and applied it to the works of Bach, creating [[The Swingle Singers]]. Scat singing was also used by [[Louis Prima]] and others in the song "[[I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)|I Wan'na Be Like You]]" in Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]'' (1967).

The bop revival of the 1970s renewed interest in bop scat singing, and young scat singers viewed themselves as a continuation of the classic bop tradition. The medium continues to evolve, and vocal improvisation now often develops independently of changes in instrumental jazz.<ref name="grove"/>

During the mid-1990s, jazz artist John Paul Larkin (better known as [[Scatman John]]) renewed interest in the genre briefly when he began fusing jazz singing with [[pop music]] and [[eurodance]], scoring a world-wide hit with the song "[[Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)]]" in 1994. Vocal improviser [[Bobby McFerrin]]'s performances have shown that "wordless singing has traveled far from the concepts demonstrated by Louis Armstrong, Gladys Bentley, Cab Calloway, Anita O'Day, and Leo Watson."<ref>{{Harvnb|Crowther|Pinfold|1997|p=135}}</ref>

=== Vocal bass ===
Vocal bass is a form of scat singing that is intended to vocally simulate instrumental [[basslines]] that are typically performed by bass players. A technique most commonly used by bass singers in a cappella groups is to simulate an instrumental rhythm section, often alongside a [[Mouth drumming|vocal percussionist]] or [[beatboxer]]. Some notable vocal bass artists are [[Home Free (group)|Tim Foust]], [[Home Free (group)|Adam Chance]], [[Bobby McFerrin]], [[Al Jarreau]], [[Reggie Watts]], [[take 6|Alvin Chea]], [[DCappella|Joe Santoni]], [[Avi Kaplan]],  [[Matt Sallee]], [[Vocalogy (group)|Chris Morey]], [[Geoff Castellucci]].

=== Use in hip hop  ===
Many [[hip hop music|hip hop]] artists and [[rapper]]s use scat singing to come up with the rhythms of their raps.<ref name="Edwards, Paul 2009, p MC">{{Harvnb|Edwards|2009|p=114}}</ref> [[Tajai]] of the group [[Souls of Mischief]] states the following in the book ''[[How to Rap]]'': "Sometimes my rhythms come from scatting. I usually make a scat kind of skeleton and then fill in the words. I make a skeleton of the flow first, and then I put words into it."<ref name="Edwards, Paul 2009, p MC"/> The group [[Lifesavas]] describe a similar process.<ref name="Edwards, Paul 2009, p MC"/> Rapper [[Tech N9ne]] has been recorded demonstrating exactly how this method works,<ref>{{Harvnb|Godfrey|2010}}</ref> and gangsta rapper [[Eazy-E]] used it extensively in his song "[[Eternal E|Eazy Street]]."